The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog: RicksBlog.com – Home of The Domain King®

Morning Folks!!

In business we are all salesmen. If we own or operate a
business you are a salesmen. Now there are good salesmen and bad ones. Ones
that know how to close a sale and get a result and those that can’t.

One year ago today was possibly the most historic day any of
us will live to see and Iblogged about it. A young, energetic black president taking the oath of
office. From slavery to the presidency. We have a lot to be proud of. But as
salesmen by trade this has to be the worst sales event I have ever seen. With
goodwill that I have never seen in all my life, with an opportunity
unprecedented in history what can I really say? Here it is…He blew it!

Broken promises without explanation or even a good reason.
Over reaching the likes we have never seen before. And a deaf ear for the
majority who are justifiably concerned.

So it all came to a crashing end last night with an earth
shattering victory for a seat held by Democrats for nearly my entire
lifetime. The bluest of blue
states even rejected the nonsense going on in Washington. Ted Kennedy is
spinning in his grave.

The bi-product of all this is that folks are once again
talking politics with a much more open mind. While things may be more divided
than ever in Washington, the same cannot be said for the heartland. People are
becoming more and more united against the waste and corruption we are
seeing. Sickening is a word that
comes to mind. We sit and watch our way of life be challenged at every level.
Sorry, I don’t feel guilty for living well because I work very hard. Since when
is success punished? Since when is
it ok to not listen to the electorate?

So just one year later and the President, who is very
likeable, cannot keep saying the same things when we see this stuff with our
own very eyes. One year ago today
we were all filled with hope. Well, that was all it was, hope. I can only hope
the election last night and the losses in New Jersey and Virginia will finally
get the message thru. We are Americans for a reason. We rejected the European
style of life and government 234 years ago and it is great to see that even in
the most liberal state in America they did not lose sight of that. That was a
stunning defeat for Obama as it was a referendum on his policies and even in Massachusetts it was rejected
in no uncertain manner.

Healthcare? Certainly it needs to be updated. But I sure
would sleep better at night knowing 80 Senators agreed on how to do that then
some new social program that punishes success and rewards those on the
sidelines. Terrorism? I wish the president would be as passionate about our rights and protecting us as he is in protecting these PRICKS that want to kill us. WTF is wrong here?? There is more torture on TV than the Military ever thought of!

So my wish is that the President stops ignoring the folks
and starts to have some success.
Where are we a year later? Other than the wasteful stimulus, this transformational
President has accomplished nothing in his first year. Nothing. The only thing he has accomplished is
wasting the great opportunity he had and turning the bluest seat in the Senate, RED after 52 YEARS! 12 months ago you could have gotten 1 million to 1 odds against that happening. Today, it is a reality and it did not happen by accident. Obama's liberal plans was rejected by the most liberal state in the country and that is a huge event. Even liberals want to be protected from these terror attacks and I GUARANTEE that if it was your wife, mother or child that the terrorist had information about and could save their lives with it, that ANY METHOD would be fine as long as you got the info before it was too late.

In the next days ahead we will see if the President and
Congress get the message or are still tone deaf. No matter which side of the
political spectrum you are on we all want to have these folks make decisions in
OUR best interests, not THEIRS!

Sorry, I don’t like a country that has 2 groups. One that
carries the water, and those that drink the water. Sorry, this is 100%
bullshit. It is one thing to help the helpless; it is another thing to help
folks that deserve no help. Somewhere along the line, the oldest law of man has
to be the key. “Survival of the fittest”.

Some think compassion is giving a guy a fish so he can eat
today. That is not compassion that is dependency. Teaching a guy to fish is
compassion. If he is not interested in learning, that is NOT your problem and
it is not my problem and the government needs to learn it is not their problem
either..

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

This will be the first time I am attending TRAFFIC
as an attendee. No more getting in
5 days early to prepare for the show. No printing badges and preparing
registration. No getting all types of last minute emergency emails. No floorplans, diagrams, setup or breakdown. No pressure
to perform. Just a few relaxing days in Las Vegas with the brightest guys on
earth and their families. I am looking forward to having free time and meetings
with productive outcomes.

One of the things I am looking most forward to is
meetingJoseph
McClendon III

The reason is because it was Tony Robbins that
changed my life. I have written many times over the years about the cassette
tapes I bought back in 1992. It was like a set of 20. I failed. I made it thru only the 4^th
tape and that was so life changing that I have never looked back. I just love
when folks can’t figure out how this stuff relates to domains. I think maybe because
domaining is the only business they have ever been in and they don’t quite
grasp that success or failure comes from within and your habits (Bad or good) are your destiny. That it transcends the product
or service or business you have. That your mindset will determine your success or failure before you
even begin. Also identifying the very thin line between failure, success,
determination and wasting time by going down a dead end. Knowing when giving up is because it is
time to give up or there is just a lack or perseverance or no chance of your vision coming true.

Excuses in life are easy to make up. Excuse makers
focus on excuses. Failure never has to be excused or blamed on others. Failure is only bad when it
is due to your own laziness or lack of effort or sloppiness or other such error
caused by a thinking pattern that did not serve you well. You have the control
and ability to teach yourself anything you want. Including success which in many cases is taught by failure itself.

So when I get on that plane, my entire focus will
be different. My approach may be the same because once you learn that it is
with you every second of every day. What makes TRAFFIC so special is the invisible
recharge you go through when you hang with energized folks that are walking
serial success stories. They see
things others don’t. They react when others ponder. They perform while others
talk.

So a unique group presents unique opportunities at
a unique point in time. That produce unique results. That is just one of the
formulas that makes TRAFFIC different and this TRAFFIC will be like a breath of
fresh air with a new format but using the same formula. An invisible formula
that can’t be copied because it has many formulas inside other formulas and
wrapped up with a shared vision.

TRAFFIC means business and I am one excited guy to
be able to actually go to TRAFFIC and focus on nothing but deal making,
partnerships and other innovative ways to make BIG things happen in 2010. Life changing
things. The only difference is I will be focusing on life changing things for
myself for the first time since 2004 and I am gonna have a GREAT time doing it. Everything many of us have done until now were nothing more than preparation for the next 5 years. We have survived a bubble and a collapse and watched institutions crumble while we got stronger in the process. We are coming to center stage at a precise moment and the bi-product of the current economic conditions is that it is now universally agreed that the Internet is the future. A far cry from the bubble of 2003 when newspapers, TV stations and Main Street did everything in their power to discredit this medium. Now they have joined and embraced the Internet and 2010 is the FIRST year of the 'New Economy'. What has happened until now does not even count. Training wheels on a rocket ship. Prepare for liftoff!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Tia Wood made an interestingblog post about me and how I operate the other day. She articulated things I never could and then I did my best to follow up with the following comment. I am sure the folks the post is intended for won't give it a second thought. They do, one at a time. Not in mass. But for the umpteenth time over too many years to count I will try and explain how I see things.

'If I drive a Ferrari and a guy has a 15 year old junker, I will
share my story of how I got the Ferrari and what I believe and how I see things
but don’t expect me to get into the junker if I am not stranded. I already had
my share of junkers. I was already where others were. All I can do is share
what I personally learned and believe. I can’t force anyone, nor do I want to.
I can lend a helping hand when I have time and willing to pull others up. But I
do get annoyed when I lower my hand and others try and pull me down. THOSE are
the people I have no time for. The time wasters with bad attitudes that are mad
at everyone else for THEIR shortcomings. THOSE are the people I avoid in the
domain business and in life in general. Pretty simple. The only ones that get
offended are those very people. So they stick out and it makes it easy to
exclude them. When they figure it out, they are included. I say it out loud and
in writing because that is the foundation of my belief system. Surround
yourself with people that pull you up not the ones that try and pull you down.
SIMPLE! People that pull you up NEVER get offended by that or have to make
snide comments. It only reflects badly on them. So what we see, they don’t.
That’s the magic of life.'

If I started in domaining today I would do it differently. I would have to do it differently even if I got into domains 6 months later than I did. The equation changes every day of our lives. Business does not stay still. It evolves and you have to evolve with it. But evolving does not change standard business principles and approach and attitude and behavior and many other things. That is the common thread and if that is flawed, everything you do is flawed because the foundation is not solid. Folks that are not making a lot of money in domaining can't blame anyone but themselves. I can see some getting red in the face just for saying something that is simple fact. Ok fine, blame me. Blame your mother. Blame the man on the moon. I am the one on the planet that has held you back. I am the bad guy. If not for me you would be a wildly successful. Just know that YOU are the only one that believes it and silly is the only word that comes to mind. YOU are in control of your destiny and you own it because you created it! A dose of reality is the way I give a helping hand and I can't help those that blame others for their failures or shortcomings. Until you get past that, you will never understand a word of what I am saying. Raise your game by stopping and thinking and accomplishing things and being deliberate. When you lash out, use that energy to pull yourself up because there is only one person on the entire planet that can hold you back and if you are looking my way, then you are foolish and it is time to adjust your attitude or suffer another year of anger and frustration. Want to be a winner? Then be a winner. It is your decision and I have no power to stop you nor desire. I do have a desire to lend that hand by posting in your face stuff that exposes the basic things that may be holding you back. Extend your hand and I will shake it. Bite my hand it and I will bite back. Attitude is everything and will determine your success or failure before you even begin your project.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

My year started very interesting. I was stunned last week whenAdam Strongadvised me on New Years Day that Foreclosure.com parent company had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy just a week earlier. I read the story in theSouth Florida Biz Journal with my jaw hanging down. Man, did I dodge a bullet! Then another article appeared today in a second publicationInman.comwith more juicy details and some history and a couple pending lawsuits. BIG lawsuits.

What jumped out at me the most was the $9 million in
assets and the $27 million in liabilities. That seemed to dove tail with the
value Brad Geisen himself put on this deal. $20 million. That deal would help his spreadsheet. It also helped to explain why his valuation was higher than my $16-$18 million.

My attorney was labeled a 'Deal Breaker'
which in hindsight saved my bacon after 15 months of trying to get to a
permanent contract while operating under an LOI. I was not happy that I spent 60% of the money they were
paying me negotiating this deal and ended up walking away with nothing. In hindsight that was a small price to pay to protect and now save one of my most
valuable properties.

You can't say the motives behind what someone does
but you sure as hell can speculate and when I do, I don't like what I see. It
just reinforces how I do business and the power and freedom to walk away from a
$20 million deal that would have turned out very bad. I am sure this is not the
last we hear of this and whether they survive or not may not be up to them.

At some point I will write more details about the deal. I posted about the initial breakdown back in October 'Foreclosing on Foreclosure.com'. It started turning south in August when
they defaulted on their monthly payment. I continued to send them traffic in good faith as I
thought we were close to getting this nailed down. In fact, I was just wasting
my time and getting jerked around. But better that than losing the domain name
for pennies on the dollar. So what some may have thought was weakness when this fell
apart as actually strength in walking away. What gets my dander up is in my
heart I believe they knew this was coming and the fact they would not sign the
deal that mirrored the fail safe in the candy.com spoke volumes. How could you not know in August, September and October that bankruptcy was looming just WEEKS later? I don't forget SHIT like that and folks need to know the skinny on all this.

Knowing when to say 'No' and walking away has been my single biggest strength in business since the 1970's. Even when I could not afford to say 'No', I did. Each time the future proved the decision to be a good one. Never give in to the pressure. It is your RIGHT and your DUTY to walk away from bad deals or deals that don't cover everything. Walking away from a $20 million Property.com deal (My biggest deal ever) only makes the domain more valuable and I feel 100% vindicated that I followed the advice of my attorney. It was one of the toughest decisions I ever made and until New Years Day, one I questioned daily and my greatest defeat is now my most cherished victory!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz